Breaking 50K is amazing!

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Really? Amazing with the number 50... So great!

Hoogland beats the previous kilo record by almost a full second, 55.433s from 56.303s.

It makes sense though if you look closely. The kilo was dropped from the Olympics after 2004, Pervis set the record in 2013. Look at the WR progression, it's pretty normal until Arnaud Tournant goes to La Paz in 2001 and shaves a full second off the record. Every jump after that (after it was dropped from the Olympics) was ~1 second.

The only people capable of breaking the record are generational talents. When they race world cups/championships they're also doing the sprint, keirin, and team sprint. The only realistic way they're getting at the record is to travel to altitude and have a dedicated go at it. You're unlikely to take on all that trouble for something you're close to, might get, need a good day. But if it's a slam dunk guaranteed record the math changes. I believe that's why you see such a strange progression.

Also bike tech. Tournand on a 2023 setup is surely a few tenths faster.

(edit: I bet Lavreysen beats it in the next few years)


https://en.wikipedia.org/...%27s_1_km_time_trial